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Star Wars Rebels Showrunner Talks What’s Next For Jacen

Star Wars Rebelshas just brought its fourth and final season to a close with one heck of a finale. The last episode wrapped up the show in a satisfying way but also dropped some intriguing breadcrumbs to be picked up in the follow-up series. Chief among them was Jacen Sydulla, the son of Hera and the late Kanan who was briefly introduced in the episode’s coda.

As the child of a kickass Rebel general and a Jedi, Jacen is a character with loads of potential. While talking with io9, Rebels showrunner Dave Filoni admitted that he doesn’t have a clear plan ahead for him just yet, but there’s definitely chatter going on behind the scenes at Lucasfilm about what happens next for Jacen.

“I have not given a lot of thought to where that goes, to be honest. That doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t in the future. I’m already getting asked internally a lot about it from people here [at Lucasfilm]. Creatives here. So that’s good. I like that. [The idea of Jacen Syndulla] developed, really, through the fourth season as an idea I thought would be good and meaningful. I talked to [development executive] Kiri Hart about it and she was pretty much the one person I confided this idea in, until we went to design him obviously.”

The name Jacen is one that’s sure to ring alarm bells for any Star Warsfan familiar with the Legends universe. In the spinoff novels that are no longer considered canon, Jacen Solo was Leia and Han’s son. As Ben Solo AKA Kylo Ren fills that space in the Sequel Trilogy, obviously the character has been wiped from continuity. But Filoni has said that he named Hera’s son in honor of Jacen, and is leaving the door open for the characters’ arcs to mirror each other.

“It seemed, in a very small way, naming him ‘Jacen’ was a way to honor the expanded universe character of Jacen Solo who just really isn’t there anymore as the timelines have changed. I thought that’s a little bit of a wink to people that I know that was an important character. And maybe, in some way, that lives on through this character. I don’t know yet.”

That doesn’t bode well for Jacen Syndulla. Much like Kylo Ren, Jacen Solo began as a heroic Jedi but became corrupted by the Dark Side and was reborn as Darth Caedus. We might be getting ahead of ourselves here, but we wonder if Hera’s son might be revealed to be one of the Knights of Ren? This could be possible if the next Star Wars animated series is indeed titled Resistance, as is believed.

But we digress. Tell us, what would you like to see in the Star Wars Rebelssequel show? Drop your thoughts in the comments section down below.